The Watch Maker?

 Dictionary.com says:

deism—noun

1. belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation (distinguished from theism)

2. belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it.

Webter's 1828

DE'ISM, noun [French deisme; Spanish deismo; Italian id.; from Latin deus, God.] The doctrine or creed of a deist; the belief or system of religious opinions of those who acknowledge the existence of one God, but deny revelation: or deism is the belief in natural religion only, or those truths , in doctrine and practice, which man is to discover by the light of reason, independent and exclusive of any revelation from God.

I have been fighting for years against the shameful lie that our Founding Fathers were either all,  mostly, predominately, substantially, partly or, at least, well stocked with deists. I've heard it from alleged historians, teachers, politicians, sadly, even preachers and, of course, from many on Fascist-Book.

It's a fairy tale promulgated by the growing agnostic/atheist class in our society. These little people with little ideas and delusions of grandeur believe they can lift themselves by the bootstraps by lowering our heroes. They, of course, would have the mendacity to falsely claim our founders were all godless gargoyles. You know, like themselves. Balderdash!

Now, this word is typically used by those who have never bothered themselves with silly, little things like bothersome definitions. Demonstrating their willful ignorance, they seem to think they know exactly what every word ever spoken means by, I suppose, osmosis. For those of us who ain't so smart? We must turn to Webster.

(As shown above.)

In short, deism doesn't deny God's existence, only His involvement. Their absurd claim is, in short, sure there is a god and he created everything, but he just doesn't care. He will never involve himself in our lives; he doesn't want to have anything to do with us. The only things we can learn about him are assumptions made from study of the nature and our own reason. We won't get any revelation from the creator himself. He doesn't want to talk to us. We are on our own!

You've heard the metaphor about the watchmaker god. He made the watch; he wound the watch; he started the watch; he left the watch to follow his design. To put a fine point on it, he then cast the watch aside and abandoned it.

Attempting not to digress here, but you would have to be completely and purposely ignorant about watches to buy into such a pathetic metaphor. Good, well made watches need cleaning, oiling, winding and just general maintenance to keep in good operating condition. You know, much like our universe needs a good caretaker to keep in good operating condition.

Let's us, though, for argument's sake, suppose it is true that a large portion of our Founders believed in "a God  who didn't care, that lived away out there." That being the case, what would we have to believe about the old boys that gave us the Declaration, the Constitution, our glorious republic and these United States?

These are a few of the conclusions about them at which you would have to arrive:

1. You must believe that our Founders, in spite of lack of modern transportation, good roads and the miles of distance required for many to travel, still managed, to a man, to attend church worship services when able, but didn't really mean it.

2. You must believe that, although almost all, if not all, professed a faith in Christ as the only begotten Son of God, they didn't mean it.

3. You  must  believe that, although they constantly quoted Holy Scriptures and incessantly referenced "Divine Providence" and "nature's God" throughout their writings, speaches and the Declaration itself, they didn't mean it.

4. You must believe that although almost all, if not all, were christened, confirmed and professing Christians, (yes, most were Protestant,) and took their families to church services as regularly as the times and distances permitted, they didn't mean it.

5. You must believe that, even though, by their own and/or they family's request, most, or, at least, many were buried in church graveyards and all, received Christian burials, they didn't mean it.

6. You must believe that, although they always prayed when opening session in the Continental Congress and purposely hired chaplains for the Continental Army, they didn't mean it.

7. You must believe that although many of our Founders were Freemasons, which requires a belief in a God who created our universe, reveals Himself to us in many ways and, after death, we must stand before Him to answer for this life, they didn't mean it.

8. You must believe that, although many, if not all, memorized great passages of Holy Scripture which they were able to recite to family, friends and constituents, they didn't mean it.

9. You must believe that, although no one has, in well above two hundred and fifty years, been able to find any autobiography, letter, newspaper article, speech, quote or reference from a friend, or even enemy, or even so much as a scrap of paper from a contemporary saying that any one of these men actually referred to himself or his fellow rebels as a "deist," they didn't mean it.

10. You must believe that these alleged deists, although they did not believe in divine revelation, ergo, the Holy Bible, the Holy Ghost, the Begotten Son of God, told all of their friends and family they did, but they didn't mean it.

11. You must believe that the men who mutually pledged to each other, "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor," were habitual liars who deceived every one who knew them about the most important part of a man's life, his religion, but it's only because they didn't really mean it.

12. You must believe that deism, a philosophy/theology arguably without beliefs, produced our glorious republic through only empirical observation, reason and the religion of nature with no consideration of the afterlife or man's ultimate responsibility to his fellow man or his God.

12. You must believe our Founding Fathers viewed God much like the prophets of Baal who were mocked by Elijah: Is your god busy? Is your god on a journey? Is he asleep? You must then believe these men prayed to Jehovah God, saying he would answer, but they really didn't mean it.

13. You must believe that the God in whom they invested so much time, study, contemplation and prayer was no more to them than a capricious, fickle, distracted, disinterested, unsoverign, uncaring, shirker, slacker, absent father who made us and then  forsook us, casting us into the cosmos to fend for ourselves. And He is not the least bit concerned with nor interested in our eternal destination.

Is that what you mean?